Riding Giants
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:29:01
...and I got my ass kicked
from the time I can remember.

:29:05
I went to school
and had my ass kicked.

:29:07
I went to high school and had
my ass kicked. And in some ways...

:29:11
...maybe there was something there
that drove me to want...

:29:15
...to pursue big-wave riding,
to make a statement.

:29:17
I'm not a psychologist,
I don't know.

:29:19
All I know is, once you get into it,
there's an adrenaline, a stoke...

:29:23
...and that high is so addictive
that once you have a taste of it...

:29:27
...it's very difficult to not want more.
:29:31
But for Greg Noll,
big-wave surfing became more...

:29:34
... than just an adrenaline fix.
It became his identity...

:29:38
... his way of life
and his business.

:29:40
He was doing it to promote
his surfboard business...

:29:43
...and worked to promote himself.
:29:45
Greg was a good hurdy-gurdy man.
He knew how to self-promote himself.

:29:51
As well as being a successful
surf filmmaker...

:29:54
... the surfboard business
Noll began in his parents' garage...

:29:57
... had, by 1965,
become a 20,000-square-foot...

:30:01
... surfboard factory
built around his big-wave image.

:30:04
I had a big building,
I had 67 employees...

:30:07
...I made 150 boards a week.
:30:09
I was just turning money over
because I was selling them so cheap.

:30:13
We were all competing
with each other.

:30:16
He was a board designer. He was
a really influential manufacturer.

:30:20
He was the most complete surfer
of the '50s and '60s, by far.

:30:23
No one could come close.
:30:27
Despite the dramatic exploits of Noll
and the other Waimea Bay surfers...

:30:31
... it was a naive 15-year-old girl
from California...

:30:35
... and her desire to join
the Malibu surf set...

:30:37
... that launched surfing
into mainstream America.

:30:40
Surfing is out of this world!
You can't imagine the thrill...

:30:43
...of shooting the curl. It surpasses
every living emotion I've ever had!

:30:50
Hey! This is the ultimate!

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